The Make Up
by WishIWasLea
Summary: One-shot of how Finchel could get back together. Takes place after season 4.


**Hey so I know I just started another story but I wrote this one shot a while ago and it's just been gathering metaphorical dust in the hard drive of my phone. So I thought I'd post it. You can never have too much Finchel in fanfic land. ;) it didn't turn out as great as I'd hoped but I worked on it for a while and didn't want it to go to waste. Hope you like it. Reviews are always welcome and encouraged :)**

* * *

Rachel walked down the halls of McKinley High, heading toward Will Schuester's office. She was back in town for mid term break and wanted to visit her former teacher for a shot of much needed nostalgia. She made it to the door of the choir room when she felt a pair of strong arms snake around her waist.

Rachel gasped. "I have a rape whistle and I swear to God I'll blow it."

She felt the familiar rumble that she recognized as Finn chuckling. She relaxed in his arms, relieved she wasn't really being attacked.

"Well hello to you too." She could almost hear his signature smirk.

"God Finn you scared me. What are you doing here?" She tried to seem stern but couldn't help the smile that curled at her lips.

"Visiting, just like you. You should really be more careful, what if I really was a raper?"

"It's rapist, and we're in a school filled with people, I think I'll be fine." She smiled.

"Well what if I was an obsessed fan that wanted to kidnap you?"

"Finn I'm not famous yet, I don't have fans."

"Sure you do, there's one right here." He stroked her arm affectionately.

Rachel blushed. "Well thanks but I don't think I need to worry about YOU attacking me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that either, you're so beautiful right now I might jump you."

"Finn..-" she started.

"Hey let's go get some lunch. We could go to Breadstix, my treat."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"We can't just go on dates and pretend that everything is back to normal. I have to leave soon and-"

"Then we won't call it a date. It's just a nice lunch between friends."

Rachel thought for a moment. She knew this would just make her miss him more. But she also knew that it'd be worth it.

"Ok." She said, grabbing his hand, causing a wide grin to grace his features. "But first we need to visit Mr. Schue."

"Oh no no no. They'll stop the lunch special before we can get there. We have to go now if we want to make it. We can visit Will later."

Rachel sighed but let him lead her out of the school to where his truck was parked. He opened the door for her and guided her into her seat, his hand on the small of her back.

Once he was in, Rachel got a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Remember when we used to come in here after school and make out before I would take you home?" Finn said fondly.

Rachel giggled. "Yeah my dads still think I was giving singing lessons after school."

Finn chuckled with her. They both stared at each other and Rachel sighed, missing the old days. Missing being with Finn.

"But that was a long time ago." She said.

"Rachel it was only a little over a year ago. Things could be like that again. We could get it all back."

"Finn you know we can't."

"Why not? I mean, when we're both done with school there will be no excuse why we can't get back together. I'll move up to New York, I'll get a job I hate, whatever I have to do to be with you."

Rachel got the breath knocked out of her from the serious and delicate turn this conversation had taken.

"Finn I won't let you do that. You hate New York, and I won't let you get a job you're miserable doing. I need for you to be happy. Plus you'd just resent me later."

"I don't hate New York. I hated not knowing what to do there. I was completely lost the last time I was there. Now I have a direction to go in. A plan for my life. Now I wanna make a plan for OUR life."

Rachel sighed. "What happened to 'just a nice lunch between friends'?"

"Come on Rach, you know we'll never be just friends."

"Well right now I'd like to lighten the mood and change the subject to something more breathable. So let's just get some lunch as friends, ok?"

Finn sighed. "Ok. I won't bring it up again."

"Thank you."

When they got there, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the restaurant, striding inside.

Once they were seated, the waitress came to take their order. Rachel noticed it wasn't the usual waitress.

"Hello, welcome to Breadstix. What drink would you like to start off with?" She looked and sounded completely bored and slightly annoyed. That is until she looked up and saw Finn. She suddenly grinned and had flirty eyes, something that Rachel found infuriating. Wait, why was she mad? She shouldn't be mad, this is NOT a date.

But the waitress doesn't know that and she's totally flirting with him! That is SO rude, she thought.

"Um, I'll have a coke. And she'll have a water with lemon." Rachel secretly loved that he ordered for her. Especially seeing the waitress' reaction. She was glaring at Rachel now, which Rachel found hilarious. Miss bottle blonde with a new nose thought she had a chance with Finn. HA!

"All right, I'll be right back with those." She winked at Finn as she walked away. Rachel scoffed at her completely inappropriate behavior. Finn grinned at Rachel and she just narrowed her eyes at him. The waitress walked back to their table with their drinks.

"Here you go." She almost tipped Rachel's drink on her. Who did this girl think she was? She smirked at Rachel and gave Finn a wink before she walked away.

"So, what have you been up to? I hear you're getting a teaching degree. Finn that's so great. I'm so proud of you."

"Really?"

"Of course. I think it's perfect for you."

"Yeah you said that about acting." He grinned.

"Well you're so talented, I think you could do just about anything."

"You really think that?"

"Of course I do. You're amazing Finn." They shared a look.

"So, what have you been up to? Other than dating a prostitute."

"Wow Finn." They both laughed. "You know, I'm good. I've moved on and I'm focusing on school."

"I'm glad. You were too good for him anyway."

Rachel didn't notice the waitress walk up. "What can I get you to eat?"

"Um, I'll have the 9oz steak with a side of fries and she'll have the vegan meatballs. You know, you guys should really have more vegan options."

Rachel smirked. The waitress glared. Finn was still oblivious.

"All right, it should be out in 20 minutes." The waitress walked away and Rachel stuck her tongue out at her when Finn wasn't looking.

...

20 minutes later, the food was brought out by none other than bottle blonde bitch face.

"Here's you vegan crap," she said to Rachel, and then turned to Finn, "And here's your hot, juicy steak." She said seductively. Then she turned her back to Rachel and whispered to Finn, "My number is under the plate."

Rachel had had enough. Her water glass "accidentally" fell over, drenching the woman's backside in lemon water.

"You bitch! I cannot believe you did that!"

"It wasn't on purpose," she lied.

"Oh yeah right." The woman picked up Finn's glass and dumped it on Rachel. Rachel gasped at the feeling of the cold liquid dripping down her skin, soaking her entire outfit. It felt oddly familiar.

Oh. Slushie.

"WHOA hey that was totally uncalled for! Someone fire this chick, she's batshit!"

Rachel almost laughed at Finn's choice of words but she was still just a little too pissed.

"Finn, it's fine. Let's just leave."

Finn nodded and followed her out the door. They got to the car and Finn pulled out a blanket from his trunk.

"Here, try to dry off a little. I'll take you to my house so you can shower this crap off. And mom and Burt are out of town so there won't be any questions or weird looks."

Rachel laughed. "Thanks."

...

They had walked into the quiet house and flipped on the lights to see the living room she was so used to. Again, more déjà vu. She just finished her shower and put on some of Finn's old clothes until hers were done washing. She came downstairs to find Finn waiting for her on the couch. She went and sat next to him.

"Thanks for trying to stand up for me back there." She smiled.

"Yeah what happened? I mean everything was fine and then she just went crazy just cuz you accidentally spilled some water."

"Well, it wasn't exactly an accident."

Finn looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she almost spilled it on me because I guess she was mad that I was there with you because she obviously found you attractive and I gave her a look for being inappropriate and then she slipped you her number, I mean who does that? And-"

"Whoa Rach, take a breath. Wait, are you saying she was flirting with me? And you tried to stop her? Why?"

"Well, I-"

"You were jealous, weren't you?" He gave her the sideways smirk that she loved.

"NO. But she didn't know that it wasn't a date, and she flirted anyway. I mean that's just plain rude and a little slutty."

"You were jealous. Rachel Berry was jealous of a girl that was flirting with a guy that she's supposedly not dating. Jealous jealous jealous-"

"FINN SHUT UP. I wasn't jealous, I just-"

"Rachel just give it up. Stop pretending that you don't still love me." Finn snapped.

She hesitated at his sudden mood change. "I don't. We broke up and I'm completely fine with that."

"No you're not. You miss me."

"No I don't. I'm perfectly fine with being by myself, thank you very much." She said in a frustrated tone.

Finn looked at her for a minute.

"Why are you so afraid of needing me?" Finn asked, staring deep into her chocolate brown eyes.

Rachel was afraid this type of thing might come up. She was just hoping the question wouldn't have such a painful answer. A few tears escaped her eye and raced down her cheek. "The last time I needed you, you left me."

Finn's face fell.

"I was all alone. In this big city where I knew no one. And all I wanted was for the man I loved to be there with me. And you weren't."

Finn felt a few tears fall off the end of his nose.

"I don't care if you thought that was the right thing to do. It wasn't. I needed you. And you didn't care."

"That's not true."

"Oh please. All you thought about was you and clearing your fucking name! Whether you like it or not, your father was messed up. It's his own fault what happened to him. It was not your responsibility to clean up after his mistakes. It was your responsibility to love me and be there for me. But you ran away like a scared little boy. And then, you come to New York. You come back to me and act like everything is fine and then I wake up and you're just gone. You left me again, without saying anything. You've always been a leader Finn, you've always known what to do in challenging situations but the minute things get difficult with me, you run away like the problem will go away if you just ignore it. Do you know how that makes me feel? It makes me feel worthless! It's like I'm not worth the trouble so why try, right? Finn, I went through hell in high school trying to get you to fall in love with me and I finally did, we we're engaged, and you abandoned me! It felt like you never even loved me."

"DAMN IT RACHEL, SHUT UP!"

She froze, shocked that he yelled at her. He never yelled at her.

"I do love you, that was the problem! I love you more than anything in this fucking world." He said, a bit quieter. "You know, sometimes you make me feel pretty worthless too. You're smart, you're beautiful, you're crazy talented. You have everything going for you and at the time, I had nothing. My dad turned out to be a loser. I barely passed high school, I probably wouldn't have if you hadn't helped me. I didn't get into the college I wanted. And there you were. Your brains, your looks, and your acceptance into the best performing arts school in the country. I wasn't good enough for you. I always knew that. I just couldn't admit it until I saw my life falling apart. But yours was just getting started. I had no idea where I was going or what I would do. And you were going to give up everything you had just to help me piece my life back together. I couldn't hold you back like that. I love you too much."

Rachel was crying for a different reason now.

"I'm just starting to see how I fit into the world. I know where I'm going now. Career-wise. But I still need a place to go. And I want that place to be with you." He walked over to her and encompassed her tiny body in his arms. She didn't resist. She melted into the embrace and continued to cry.

"What happened to us?" Rachel cried.

"We both made mistakes, ok? Neither of us are perfect. But the point of making mistakes is to learn from them."

"So what do we do?"

Finn pushed her hair away from her face and wiped her tears. Then he kissed her. And he kept kissing her and she kissed him back and they both realized that all this pain could go away if they just gave in. If they just accepted that they needed each other. So that's what they did.

...

They laid in his bed, holding each other as close as possible. Finn's grip was a little tight but Rachel didn't care.

"I was so stupid. I shouldn't have let you go like that. I mean, if you wanted to go I would've let you, but I shouldn't have pushed you away. I shouldn't have made you leave."

"Finn, I'm the one that broke up with you after you came back to me. I should've tried to help you. Also it was pretty stupid to think that I could just date some guy in New York and that would make me forget about you."

"It probably would've turned out better if he hadn't been a prostitute." Finn joked.

Rachel chuckled. "It's not like I knew that when I was with him. Finn I never forgot about you. I couldn't get you off my mind actually. I guess I was just using him to feel better about what happened with us. I just wanted to feel loved."

"You really thought I could just stop loving you? Just like that? Come on Rach, you know better."

"Yeah, I do. I guess it just never really made sense for you to love me. I still don't understand it."

Finn shook his head in disbelief. Couldn't she see how amazing she was?

"There a lot of things we don't understand. But that doesn't mean that they're not real or that we shouldn't believe in them."

"I don't see how anyone could ever think you're stupid. Sometimes you just blow my mind with how much you know about life. You see things differently than everyone else. You always see the good in everything. Well, except for yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Finn, you always say you're not good enough, or smart enough, or talented enough. You have no idea how truly amazing you are. The glee club never would've been successful if you hadn't joined. I never would've seen myself as beautiful. I never would've known what true love feels like. You have such an impact on the lives of everyone around you. You always say I'm this big gold star, but your light in the world is just as bright."

Finn looked down at her, awestruck. Did she really think he was that great?

"And yes, I do believe everything I just said. It's all true."

"It's crazy how you read my mind like that."

Rachel chuckled. "I love you. I know you."

"You love me huh?" Finn smirked.

"The sex didn't clue you in?" She grinned.

He laughed. "I love you too."

"I know." She kissed his shoulder, lingering for a moment. "So what now?"

Finn thought for a moment. "I think I'll transfer to NYU."

Rachel sat up. "Really?"

"Duh. You really think after all this, I would just let you go back without me?"

Rachel smiled and hugged him. "I guess not. I just can't believe you still want to be with me after all the crap I put you through."

"Hey, love chooses you right?" They both laughed.

"Do you still have your ring?"

"Wait, you want to be engaged again?"

"No. Not yet. But we might need it in the future." He smirked as he played with her hair.

She rolled them over and kissed him senseless. Maybe things could be like they used to.

Or maybe they could be better.


End file.
